Month: April 2013

I know that I have used this picture above before, but I just love this room with the stained trim, wall color, Chesterfield sofa and that fabulous rug!

I went on a local color consultation today to an older home with dark stained trim. Beautiful home, it just needs a little color love and updating:

The furniture is staying so we have to work with it. The homeowner thought the only color that would work was maroon or burgundy:

I did show her a color sample how the burgundy would look and she was not happy with it. I pulled out a medium blue gray, Benjamin Moore Stillwater, 1650:

She loved it! She never even noticed the blue in the sofa before.What I really loved was how well it looked against the dark trim:

Beautiful! She loves it and I think it will make a huge difference in the room with the furniture and trim. Whenever I am consulting with stained trim, I always start with the mid-tone colors, which you can read about more here. I hope she will invite me to come back for after pictures.

Ben Moore Agave AF-420 was chosen and it looks great! Agave has just the right amount of yellow in it that really works well with the oak cabinets. She also has dark woodworking and look at how pretty it is with the Agave:

I hope I have shown you how unlimited your color choices can be when you are working with stained trim. Keep in the mid-to deeper range of colors and I think that will help you find that perfect wall color.

I am looking for a pillow, must be striped with blues and whites that will finish up a new redesigned bedroom here. She ordered the wave pillow of the three I suggested, but the background ended up being more of a tan color than the white that was shown online:

I now have an assortment to show her that will all work in her room beautifully. Which blue striped do you like best? I will let you know which pillow wins. Do you have any othergo to sources to find unique pillows? We would love to hear them.

So light and pretty! Now I am inspired to try window sheers somewhere in my home! It is a good time to try for the Spring/Summer season. Don’t you think they are beautiful? Are you using sheers in your home?

A very beautiful and very expensive sofa. But I want it and the color navy fits right into my color scheme! What to do? The sofa I have now is only about five years old. It is still in great shape and I have always loved its Chesterfield look:

I love the rolled arms and it is so comfortable with the ottoman. I wanted to keep it but the fabric was not working anymore. Since the fabric is the most expensive part of having anything reupholstered, I have kept my eye out for a good price on fabric. I found this navy blue velvet on sale:

To have a couch reupholstered, a sofa this size takes about 16 yards of fabric. The price was $14.00 a yard, plus 2 extra yards for the ottoman. 18 yards x $14.00 = $252.00 for fabric. That is a pretty good price! A reupholster price for labor on both the sofa and ottoman should cost you around $500.00. Not too bad for a ‘new’ sofa!

Next step is finding a great, affordable rug to go with my new sofa. I ordered rug samples from Ballards in Natural that I think will work great in the room and is pretty reasonable in price:

Well, perfect except for the price (sad face). I am still going to order a sample ($10.00) to be sure it will work. I noticed Company C does have an online design program where I might be able to get a designer discount. When you find ‘the’ perfect item to work in your design plan, you have to decide if you want to wait and save up for it or find something comparable that will work but not be so costly.

I am not a very patient person when I get a great idea! I just want to keep moving forward to get the project completed. But, because of the budget, I am going to have to wait a bit to make another large purchase. Does this happen to you too? Isn’t it frustrating?

Well, it is another step toward my design goal. I love my new navy sofa and am very grateful! On to the next step!

Here is a helpful link to an upholstery guide here that helps you determined how much fabric you will need for your upholstery project.

So simple and beautiful. I thought I would share some of my ideas to encourage you to run out and cut some branches! First I made something very simple:

Then I added a pop of color with a few purple irises that I had left over from another arrangement:

Next I decided to try a white vase:

Doesn’t forsythia look so pretty in small vases also?:

Do you know how beautiful that picture above would be if taken by a professional photographer? I wish I was a professional photographer.

I thought this branch was interesting:

Then I was down to my last couple of branches and decided to make a smaller arrangement:

Which looked a little boring so I snuck in some faux flowers:

Doesn’t it look like I had so much fun? I hope that I have inspired you to bring in some happy flowers! Do you like decorating with flowers? Tulips are coming! And my favorite- peonies. So simple and beautiful!

I have thought about painting, but I really like their history and character. Do you see the keyholes in the drawers? Pretty cool and unique:

Remember the post I wrote here wondering if I should paint or not paint this piece? I decided not to paint over. Once it is done, there is no going back and it really is unique and beautiful:

But one thing I do not like about the old chests is the old, musty smell in the drawers. I might care about the history of the outside of the dressers, but I do not want to know the history of what was in those drawers before:

I tried drawer sachets and pretty lined paper:

But that does not work. And since I have been going through paint withdrawals(no painting projects lately!), I decided one way to get rid of that musty smell would be to paint the inside of the drawers. Yay paint project!

Using a pretty paint color leftover from another painting project, I choose the color Ben Moore Riviera Azure for a beautiful surprise every time I opened up the drawer:

I had this blue left over from painting the guest room a few years ago:

I did not sand or prime, just wiped out the drawer clean before painting:

Now I have pretty, fresh smelling drawers!

That was my fun and easy project for this past weekend. Did you work on any projects?